Explosive hazardous devices include improvised explosive devices, unexploded ordnance, homemade explosives, or other explosive related items which are located either underwater or on land. These devices pose a threat to personnel and property due to the destructive potential of the explosive materials and compounds located within them.
Personnel who are responsible for disarming or rendering safe explosive hazardous devices utilize explosive disruption devices or special tools in order to carry out these types of operations. Some of these devices or tools include explosive disruption tools that utilize water, or similar fluids, to disrupt and preserve the explosive train as evidence for forensic purposes. Many times, the success of a successful “render safe” operation depends on the speed at which the components of the explosive train are separated. Explosive disruption tools are advantageous for these types of operations because the energy of an explosive detonation leads to high kinetic energies that propel water, for example, toward the targeted device (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,725). These velocities can range anywhere from 1500 feet/sec to 6000 ft/sec, depending on the explosive disruption tool chosen, and often lack precision disruption capabilities.
Other explosive tools may utilize a number of projectiles such as shape charges, platter charges, explosively formed penetrators, or other common methodologies to disrupt hazardous devices (see patent U.S. Ser. No. 10/500,880). While these tools may utilize water for disruption purposes, the additional benefits of firing a projectile towards an individual component or “burning through” explosive compounds adds versatility to enable the operator to respond accordingly to the hazardous device. Explosively formed penetrators, platter charges, shape charges, multiple pellets (“buckshot”), or cylindrical wedges like those fired from the MK 2 Dearmer are all tools that must be available to operational response personnel.
While explosive tools have high velocities and kinetic energies, they cause considerable amounts of collateral damage when fired. The detonation that takes place to excel the projectile or water makes the tool unbeneficial for situations where collateral damage must be minimized. Examples include situations where a tool must be fired from a robot or when forensic evidence must be preserved.
In order to target individual components or to reduce collateral damage, operators may utilize shotgun type tools that are filled with either water, clay, or metal projectiles in order to conduct render safe operations. While these tools are effective, the projectile velocities are typically low in comparison to explosive disruption charges (less than 2,000 feet/sec). In addition, the length, size, weight, and inability to reduce the recoil effects of these disruption tools makes them non-ideal for robot operations.